How good is BYU's Defense

I know that we have only played one week, but in retrospect, we just took on a behemoth, gargantuan OL, and turned in an outstanding performance - mano a Mano.



The numbers:



First downs allowed: 13

Total yards allowed: 208

Yards per rush: 2.2

Note: Ole Miss gained <=2 yards on 35% of their plays

Longest run: 11 yards

Yards per pass: 5.1

Longest pass: 24 yards

3rd down efficiency: 25% (3/12)

Turnovers: 2

Points allowed: 6



Let's hope for continuation of this effort against TX and not a let down like two years ago when after the OK game we were blasted by FSU.



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Different coordinators = Different result.



This Defense is no paper tiger. The results in Miss were no fluke. We are going up against a less experienced offensive line this week which is going to make things interesting. I am trying to keep my optimism to a minimum about this defense but I think we could potentially see something that we have never had at BYU this year. I have relatives that believe that the result in Miss was a fluke that Ole Miss will not score an offensive touchdown on anyone this year. I think that they are being pessimistic. I think BYU's defense this year is the real deal. Look what Bronco did with the D last year with most of the stars from this years defense watching from the sideline. Enough for now, just watch and see.

I would like to see the defense actually get to the QB and not just apply pressure. I don't believe they registered a sack - although the forced fumble should be counted as a sack and forced fumble.

I do not believe we blitzed much vs. Ole Miss. Many times we brought three, but generally we brought 4. I think we will bring more guys vs. Texas if we need to. I think we have some looks to throw at them that they did not see v. Ole Miss. Sacks are helpful, but being disruptive is the name of the game, and our defense was very disruptive. If that continues all season long, we will be really good. 10-2 at worst.

SpiffCoug wrote:
I would like to see the defense actually get to the QB and not just apply pressure. I don't believe they registered a sack - although the forced fumble should be counted as a sack and forced fumble.

Offenses have changed a bit since defenses are designed to get to the QB more then back in the day when BYU first started throwing and defenses were designed to stop 3 yards and a cloud of dust type offenses. Guys drop and throw. Having said that, just getting guys in his face makes you have to have a pretty exceptional QB in order to complete passes since most of them are rushed. Lots of incompleted passes are a result of a QB getting the ball out before he wants to because of the rush. Yes, a loss of yards is nice but 2nd and 10 looks pretty good to me too, especially against a defense that is only allowing 2 yards per play. I don't think I have ever been as excited about a defense at BYU as I am this one.

SpiffCoug wrote:
I would like to see the defense actually get to the QB and not just apply pressure. I don't believe they registered a sack - although the forced fumble should be counted as a sack and forced fumble.

Statistically it is a sack.

The 208 yards allowed seem really low, so I went back and looked at the last 3 seasons for Ole Miss --- this was the 2nd worst offensive performance of Ole Miss, all the while facing all these mighty SEC defenses.



The only team to hold Ole Miss to fewer yards during this time period --- 2009 BCS national champs Alabama, who held Ole Miss to 197....



In short, this is defense, baring injuries like in 2009, is going to be very, very, very good.

Y12 wrote:

I would like to see the defense actually get to the QB and not just apply pressure. I don't believe they registered a sack - although the forced fumble should be counted as a sack and forced fumble.

Statistically it is a sack.

Per the box score at

http://byucougars.com/files/BYU%20at%20Ole%20Miss%20Stats.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

There were no sacks for BYU and 1 sack for Ole Miss. So I guess it does not count as a sack.



It does appear to count as a tackle for a loss and a forced fumble.



According to Wikipedia, it should have counted as a sack, so, maybe they will update the statistics.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quarterback_sack" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I'm waiting to see our secondary get tested first, so I'll remain cautiously optimistic for now.

I'm not sold on our secondary. Once Ole Miss started throwing the ball in the second half, they found a lot of open receivers. It's the LB's that really impressed. They're one of the units that definitely lived up to their hype. It seemed like every single play, Kaveinga, Pendleton or Van Noy (usually more than one of them) were right there on the bottom of the pile. Pendleton and Van Noy were also putting a lot pressure on the QB with each getting some knockdowns, and then Van Noy's forced fumble and recovery.

The secondary won't have to cover for as long as they did against Ole Miss in any other game this season. Ole Miss had a monster line that (usually) bought the QB all the time he needed. It doesn't matter who you have in the secondary; given enough time, someone will come open. I'm guessing that against Texas and especially against Utah, the QB won't have nearly as much time. And that will make the secondary look awesome.

Holy crap, our dline is going to eat up utah's offensive line. I can't wait to see that. I don't think Utah gets more than 13 points against us. Wouldn't be surprised if it were less. In fact I expect it to be.

jonnylingo wrote:
Holy crap, our dline is going to eat up utah's offensive line. I can't wait to see that. I don't think Utah gets more than 13 points against us. Wouldn't be surprised if it were less. In fact I expect it to be.

Although I would love an undefeated season, I would rather lose to Texas and shut out the :utard: . Whether or not we shut out the :utard: , I think we get 2 shutouts against our weaker opponents.

This week will be a better test of our Dbackfield.

But I also think we will have a more active blitz package. They will pick on Eason. I hope we see someone like Joe Sampson emerge who can make some tough plays.



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dmcougar wrote:
This week will be a better test of our Dbackfield.

But I also think we will have a more active blitz package. They will TRY TO pick on Eason. I hope we see someone like Joe Sampson emerge who can make some tough plays.



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Correction: See above - I fixed your typo. Just giving Corby the benefit of the doubt. I remember being at the Florida State game in Provo and hearing people behind me making "short guy" jokes and screaming for a certain CB to be taken out of the game becasue FSU was picking on him all game. And as FSU kept going at him he knocked down pases, intercepted or caused fumbles iirc, made tackles, etc. He wasn't perfect, but the "too short" guy went on to be a team leader on defense and was soon realized to be an assett and not a liability. IDK if it turns out as well for Corby Eason as it did for Brian Logan, but I will withhold judgment until we see. I love the underdogs. I heard people bag on our local boy, at safety all last year. Hey - the guy walked away from a scholarship at Utah after his mission to walk on at BYU and earn one. Me thinks Uale had a pretty good day Saturday. Not perfect. he isn't perfect. But he earned his scholarship and the true team leader - Bronco Mendenhall, chose him to start and play against a pretty tough competitor. Go Corby. Don't let me down brah - cover my back - or DM is gonna let me know about it. ;) DM - and let me know if you wanna seat on the underdogs bandwagon!

Our only weakness is our secondary. Everything else about our defense is rock solid. I think the secondary will improve overtime but, for now, the only bright spot is Daniel Sorenson. He had an Andrew Rich type performance against Ole Miss. And by that I mean he made every play that came his way. He never made a mistake. If Ole Miss can't run on us, I don't expect anybody will. This was the first game though. And that makes me a little nervous for Texas.

cougsdominate01 wrote:
Our only weakness is our secondary. Everything else about our defense is rock solid. I think the secondary will improve overtime but, for now, the only bright spot is Daniel Sorenson. He had an Andrew Rich type performance against Ole Miss. And by that I mean he made every play that came his way. He never made a mistake. If Ole Miss can't run on us, I don't expect anybody will. This was the first game though. And that makes me a little nervous for Texas.

Let's be even more specific:

Only only weakness is the cover skills of our secondary, because they are rock solid in run support. The secondary are really good tacklers and make plays at the LOS. All of them. Our corners are good in man--but not great--and our safeties can be had on the deep ball and struggle to get over to help. Additionally, if a WR gets a mismatch on a safety, that could spell trouble. However, this unit is still better than what BYU traditionally has in terms of speed and skill. Much like Pittsburgh, our corners can be vulnerable, but it is the pressure by the front 7 that can make us special.

Cougarbib2 wrote:

This week will be a better test of our Dbackfield.

But I also think we will have a more active blitz package. They will TRY TO pick on Eason. I hope we see someone like Joe Sampson emerge who can make some tough plays.



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Correction: See above - I fixed your typo. Just giving Corby the benefit of the doubt. I remember being at the Florida State game in Provo and hearing people behind me making "short guy" jokes and screaming for a certain CB to be taken out of the game becasue FSU was picking on him all game. And as FSU kept going at him he knocked down pases, intercepted or caused fumbles iirc, made tackles, etc. He wasn't perfect, but the "too short" guy went on to be a team leader on defense and was soon realized to be an assett and not a liability. IDK if it turns out as well for Corby Eason as it did for Brian Logan, but I will withhold judgment until we see. I love the underdogs. I heard people bag on our local boy, at safety all last year. Hey - the guy walked away from a scholarship at Utah after his mission to walk on at BYU and earn one. Me thinks Uale had a pretty good day Saturday. Not perfect. he isn't perfect. But he earned his scholarship and the true team leader - Bronco Mendenhall, chose him to start and play against a pretty tough competitor. Go Corby. Don't let me down brah - cover my back - or DM is gonna let me know about it. ;) DM - and let me know if you wanna seat on the underdogs bandwagon!

Your underdog better play like THE Underdog this saturday or we're going to be in trouble. I give it up for Corby. The kid is nails for his size. He has worked his butt off in this program. I hope he has a great game.

As for your braddah, Uale, he had a few good hits this saturday, but he better be back there helping the Underdog and not getting there late. And since he is the QB of the Dbackfield, And since you are the LEadership Guru, what say you? Is Uale a "good" leader? We'll find out this saturday. The spotlight will be on them alot of the day if we are able to contain UT's run-game as effectively as we did Olemiss'.

And they will have to help out on Shipley.

Bronco discussed the secondary during his interview this afternoon. He stated that they were good and sure tacklers but that they needed to not give up as much space and contest the passes - knock them down, get hands on them and intercept. I know this will definitely be something they focus on. We saw it during the game, and obviously so did Bronco. BTW Uale blew up some plays on nice tackles towards the end of the game. He doesn't make them and the RB gets some good yardage. These guys can be very physical on the run, just need to play closer to WR and deny the pass.



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